View All (10)

For those who love strategy but want it more on the go this game is perfect for you.

If you are like me, you love Strategy Games. Everything I learned about history, I learned from playing Age of Empires and Close Combat. I worship the ground Blizzard game developers walk on, still waiting patiently for the day they announce StarCraft II. The only problem is it’s hard for me to find the 45 minutes to an hour at a time where I can just sit there and play. I’m a very busy man. If you are like me, then Laser Squad Nemesis just may be the answer to your prayers.

Laser Squad Nemesis is a revamped style of gameplay that has not been seen for years.

What style is that you ask? When was the last time you had to email your opponent requesting a duel? While you are thinking about that I will continue with the review. LSN is a turned-based strategy game developed by brothers Julian and Nick Gollop, creators of the cult classic XCom.

In order to play the game, you will have to do to download the game from the homepage. The first thing you will notice about the game is its file size. LSN weighs in at a mere 6 MB, which is the average size of a Super Nintendo game, and only takes about 15 minutes to download on an old 56k modem. Once you download and install the game you can either play as a non-registered player and play the demo, or sign up for the registered version and play LSM in all its glory.

LSN offers many options. The game includes a tutorial, single player campaign mode, multiplayer mode and even a map editor. Although these are nothing special, it boggles the mind on how they can fit these options in such a small package (remember only 6 MB). In LSN you can play as one of four races. You start the game by choosing the Marines, Machina, Spawn or Greys.

Once you've made your choice on race, you began to select which units you want to deploy into combat. Aside from the actual look, these units unfortunately differ very little from race to race. Once you've made your choices you are ready for combat. This is where the veteran programming and developing skills of the Gollop brothers really starts to shine.

The in game HUD and interface is top notch. It combines the interface of classic style RTS with gameplay that closely resembles KOTOR. Once your units are deployed you then have the option of giving your units orders. Unlike most turn-based games where you have a time limit to make your decision, LSN gives you unlimited time to make decisions as long as whatever decisions you make equates to 10 seconds of real-time. You are able to pause the game to make decisions and even test your decisions to see what it will look like before you opt to end your turn.

The real treat in the game is of course the multiplayer. As I mentioned earlier LSN uses players email addresses to regulate games. You can either send a request to play a game and wait for LSN master server to pair you up with someone or if you have a person in particular you want to own you can make direct requests which will be sent to your opponents email address. Hitting up the LSN forums is also a good idea to meet future opponents and friends.

Once you are paired up with a player you will be notified by email. You will then download the attachment (which is usually around 1kb) and begin your turn. Once you end your turn it will be sent to your opponent’s email. Great thing about the game is that you are not on a time clock. Well you are but the time is 30 DAYS! This is plenty of time by the way considering that making your move does not take more than 10 minutes to plan then execute.

Another form of multiplayer you can do is called “Hotseat”. This is pretty much if your opponent is sitting right next to you and you both plan to use the same computer to play. This allows both players to take turns with their moves as if they were playing chess.

The Gollop brothers wrote the book on email strategy games with their XCom series. Now some years later they redefined the small genre with their latest game. Despite the games unremarkable graphics and effects that we have become accustomed to in other games in the turn-based strategy genre, Laser Squad Nemesis does have one thing going for it...it's fun!


Review by Brian Grant.